While Tommy Berry and James McDonald make the headlines for all the right reasons and usher in the new and next generation of Young Guns of horse racing in Australia, we’re tipping big things for the following who, for the moment, are playing cameo roles- important cameo roles and which could, very easily, have them appear on the global stage, sooner rather than later.
Leading the pack is Chad Schofield, son of Glyn Schofield, one of the top riders in Sydney and who rode in Hong Kong for a number of seasons against fellow South Africans Douglas Whyte and Felix Coetzee.
The younger Schofield who had a somewhat ugly spat and split when riding for trainer David Hayes who, sadly, didn’t handle the situation with the maturity of the then-apprentice, has improved in leaps, bounds and lengths as a rider.
Others on our Hot Shots list are young female jockey Jamie Kah and Harry Coffey Jr.
From taking racing in Queenland by storm-and almost overnight- Miss Kah has quickly won over a number of trainers as she tries her hand in Melbourne and has repaid their faith in her by racking up winners at nearly every meeting she has ridden.
A few Saturdays ago, she spanked her fellow jockeys with a brilliant ride on Sistine Demon and these spanking lessons will continue ‘cos Jamie Kah is truly a “gun jockey”.
As for Harry Coffey, apart from shrugging off his battle with cystic fibrosis and doing his part to educate people about this disease, he has really come into his own in recent months with his confidence there for all too see and which has not gone unnoticed by a number of leading trainers.
Another on our hot list is new trainer and former jockey Brent Stanley.
Those who make the trek to Macau will remember Stanley when a jockey and where he was a huge success before those upstairs at the MJC decided to take his license away from him for reasons known only to them.
After stints in Singapore and- uh oh- Malaysia, the jockey turned to training and has forged a good partnership with Damien Oliver with the pair winning the first race of the second day of the Championships with the impressive Veuvelicious, below, and then coming up trumps on Easter Monday with Kalabek, which, despite missing the start, flew home to show that, like its trainer, this galloper is going places- fast.
Others making their presence felt on, for the moment, the racecourses in Australia are former WA jockeys Damien Lane and apprentice “Smoking” Joseph Azzopardi, who’s still “a work in progress” and Timothy Bell in Brisbane.
Tommy Berry and James McDonald have ushered in a new era of racing- a sport going through a number of changes despite resistance from many of those hardcore punters who wish to sit there and lead one-dimensional lives and reminisce about the good old days.
The good old days had their time and place and are gone forever as we are living in the Now.
Every race day in Hong Kong, we see a new breed of young horse owners, racing fans and even fan clubs starting up for riders like Tommy Berry, Tye Angland, one of the tallest jockeys riding anywhere in the world, Brazilian Joao Moreira and new 23-year-old Mauritian sensation- Karis Teetan.
The times are not only changing- but they are also forcing the global horse racing industry to grow up- fast- and understand how the new generation of race-goers think, act and how they’re calling the shots.
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